Born from the last act of the samurai.
Est. 1912 — Makinohara, Shizuoka, Japan
In 1869, the samurai who had served Japan's final shogun faced an impossible choice. Their era was over. Their swords were obsolete. So they picked up something else — hoes — and turned to a barren plateau in Shizuoka called Makinohara.
What they built over the following decades became Japan's largest continuous tea-growing region: over 5,000 hectares of meticulously cultivated hillside, carved from nothing by the discipline and precision of men who had once been warriors.
SUIKOEN was founded on that land in 1912.
For over a century, we have carried that same ethos: relentless attention to quality, deep respectfor the material, and the belief that great tea is made — not stumbled upon.
Today, we are Japan's multi-origin tea partner. We source from eight of Japan's finest tea-producing regions. We blend, roast, grind, and process. And we build the tea behind brands that want more than a commodity product.
The tea remembers the land.
The land remembers the samurai.
Our Standard
Every tea we source, every blend we build, every batch we process — it begins with a decision about what we will and will not accept.
That standard has not changed since my predecessors founded this company on the Makinohara plateau in 1912.
The samurai who cleared this land did not compromise on discipline. We do not compromise on quality.
What we offer our partners is not simply Japanese tea. It is over a century of accumulated judgment — about which leaves to select, how to process them, and how to make them perform in your product.
If you are looking for a partner who takes that responsibility seriously, we would like to talk.
Naoya Kawamura
Representative Director
SUIKOEN
SUIKOEN in Numbers
110+
Years of Tea Expertise
50+
Partner Producers
8
Tea-Growing Regions